YMCA
's Profile

Jim Kauffman is the National Director for Health and Well-being for YMCA of the USA, the national service organization to 2600 YMCAs across the country.Jim has been with the YMCA organization for 28 years, and is currently responsible for developing tools, resources and best practices for YMCA staff to use to impact the health and well-being of 25 million YMCA participants by 2012.Jim pursues a healthy lifestyle with interests in skiing, volunteering, reading, cooking and foreign travel.

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YMCA

How might an average Boomer summarize his attitude towards starting a new physical activity program? I doubt you'd hear, "No pain, no gain," but probably something more like, "My mind says GO, but my body says NO." Much has been written about Boomers' need for physical activity, but what can we - as health, wellness, and fitness professionals - do to make sure this age group actually meets the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommendations?

In the Y, we've created a program called PressPlay, which is targeted specifically for Boomers and is based on the principles of 1) Autonomy, 2) Competence, 3) Relatedness, and 4) Connectedness. By incorporating these principles, we have found that Boomers have been able to work their way up to meeting the recommended levels of physical activity (2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate activity each week) while having fun in a safe, supportive environment. And the beauty of PressPlay is that it isn't specific to just a certain sport or activity. Here's what it is all about.

Autonomy: PressPlay reinforces to participants that they are in control of their lives and that the choices they make about their health are indeed their own. Participants are challenged, but not pushed, to make healthy choices about their physical activity levels, and over time, they feel empowered to make these healthy choices. "I am capable of making good choices about my health, physical activity, and well-being."

Competence: PressPlay focuses on developmentally appropriate skill instruction and practice so that participants are indeed competent at some aspect of their chosen activity. In some cases, participants learn sport- or exercise-specific skills, and in other instances they learn how to use technology to enhance their physical activity experiences. "I'm good at this."

Relatedness: PressPlay is facilitated to create strong feelings of affinity among the Boomers participating. When surrounded by other Boomers who share similar life experiences and are also entering the same stage in life (Empty Nest, or Retirement, etc.), PressPlay participants find new friends and want to be around the group of like people. "People around me are like me."

Connectedness: PressPlay facilitators and instructors spend time during every class connecting participants with each other and creating bonds of friendships. The relationships that are formed become a motivator for regular participation in the selected activity. "I like the people in the class, and they like me."

When people are in control of their decisions and actually see that they are getting good at something, and feel connected or bonded to people like them, their participation in the activity that brought them all together becomes a joyful habit. Instead of a workout, their physical activity becomes fun, playful, and joyous. And over time, they can meet the Physical Activity Guidelines recommendations for overall health and wellness.

PressPlay isn't for everyone, but in the Y, we've found that applying these principles when working with Boomers in particular, leads to regular and long-lasting participation in our classes.

What principles are guiding your physical activity programs for Boomers so they meet the Physical Activity Guidelines?

How might you incorporate autonomy, competence, relatedness or connectedness into your Boomer programs?

There are many reasons why individuals might not meet the Physical Activity Guidelines, but one major factor is the physical environment that surrounds them. When people don't have the option to make the healthy choice regarding their participation in physical activities, there is no possible way they can do it.

Over the past several decades, our society has engineered physical activity out of our lifestyles. For example, 13% of children five to fourteen years old usually walked or biked to school in 2009, compared with 48% of students in 1969. For a long time, neighborhoods were being built without regard for pedestrians, putting the needs of the driver first. Safe biking lanes, walking paths that connected places where people wanted to go, and a variety of safe outdoor play spaces were all but engineered out of most built environments. Schools were being put in a position where they had to eliminate physical education, whether for budget reasons or to meet academic goals. Offices were built without bike racks, employee changing areas, or easy to use staircases, further enhancing less physical activity instead of more.

Fortunately, things are starting to change. A healthier communities movement is building across the nation. The Y, along with other national organizations, is leading the way. Since 2004, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other corporate and foundation donors, the Y has engaged leaders in 200 communities in working together to implement strategies that provide opportunities for physical activity.

YMCAs engaged in our Healthier Communities Initiative (pioneering Healthier Communities, Statewide Pioneering Healthier Communities and ACHIEVE) are helping families by giving parents peace of mind when they let their kids walk to school. The initiative is focused on creating safer routes, making streets safe for all users whether they are on foot or on wheels. The organizations strive to keep a generation of kids healthier by working with schools to increase physical education and physical activity during the school day, and making recess periods more active. The initiative also encourages employers to build environments that support activity among their employees. These examples are just the beginning.

How healthy is your community? What are examples of your community's efforts to change the built environment so more people engage in physical activity to meet the PA guidelines? How are you helping people see that their own built environment supports or inhibits meeting these guidelines? What barriers are there, and how can you work with other leaders in your community to collaboratively remove those barriers?

Empty nesters are a unique group. We all know who these people are: folks who spent the last 20+ years of their lives raising their children, who are now experiencing life without the responsibilities of their kids living under their roof. Like many parents, Empty Nesters put their growing children first, and found themselves getting less and less physical activity, while supporting their children's activities and interests. But now with the children gone, Empty Nesters, while still working full-time, have the opportunity to re-engage in the activities and sports they enjoyed years ago. They also make a great group to bring into a gymnasium at 6 a.m.

The Y took a unique approach to re-engage Nesters in physical activity and help them meet the PA guidelines. We looked at many theories of change, and created a program framework specifically for Empty Nesters to encourage their renewed interest in their own health and their pursuit of fitness. This framework and unique approach includes: establishing the feelings of support in a group setting, being active with people similar to each other, and recognizing the competence and skill each person gains while being more active.

The program framework that the Y created to help Nesters meet the PA guidelines looks like this:

Program focuses on activities or sports that Nesters participated in when they were younger (a "re-Beginner" instead of "new" Beginner).

Participants were recruited by age, re-beginner status and physical condition.

Two staff led the program - one as the "coach" and the other asthe "facilitator."

The facilitator's responsibility is to build group unity, create a sense of belonging, help in individual goal setting, and recognize group and individual achievement.

The coach's responsibility is to lead the physical activity (be it dance, basketball, cycling, etc.) at a level that is safe and appropriate to the group's skill and physical activity, while keeping the class fun and inspirational. Both the coach and the facilitator mirror the participant's age, life experiences, etc. as much as possible.

The program plan is to transition the group to be self-supporting.

This framework has resulted in some pretty interesting groups, including a dozen "slightly" obese, 50-55 year old ex-high school basketball stars, doing 60 minutes of basic ball handling drills, conditioning exercises, and half court games at 6 a.m., to a like-group of female ex-dancers, re-learning ballet routines, while also hitting the weight room. This works too for just about any activity many of us may have played as kids or in high school.

This framework is bringing attention to the PA guidelines, giving coaches, facilitators, and Nesters the ability to be creative in designing activities that meet the PA guidelines, and are fun to them.

Would this framework work in other settings, or with other groups?

Could you be a coach or facilitator yourself, and bring the PA guidelines to life in yet another group of re-Beginners?